Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Chickpea Noodle Soup

Chickpea Noodle Soup: get (or make) some good-tasting veggie broth, add tomato paste, nutritional yeast flakes, and some spices. Throw in a chopped carrot and some drained, canned chickpeas, simmer for 10 minutes, then add broken angel hair pastas and simmer for another 4 minutes (can you see the steam coming up from the thermos?). On the side is a mixed fruit salad (apple, orange, banana, and strawberries) and a fig bar. For the past couple weeks I've been experimenting with desserts using no refined sugar (being defined by me as sugar crystals, maple syrup, corn syrup, honey substitutes, and sweet rice syrup, but excluding fruit, dried fruit, dark molasses, and barley malt). You should have seen my pecan tartlett disaster last night -- who knew barley malt would bubble up to twice its original size in the oven? But these sugar-free fig bars with wholewheat-oat-walnut crust turned out very nicely! And did you know figs are a good source of calcium? Verdict: Shmoo scarfed up everything but the chickpeas at the bottom of his thermos. "They were too crunchy," he complained. 4 stars.

Hmm... maybe you could try some canned chickpeas? I remember using to love chickpeas, but recently I find them a little more grainy than I'd prefer. Dunno if I prepared them differently, or if I just need to readjust to the taste. But the canned chickpeas have been a lifesaver. Probably not as nutritious, but good for weaning myself back to them.This looks good! All the fresh fruit... yum.

That calcium link is awesome! (I bookmarked it.) Thanks for passing along the info. I make a chickpea noodle soup too, but mine is more of a mock-chicken noodle. Carrot, celery, onion, green peas, chickpeas, whole wheat linguine (broken into tiny pieces,) good vegetable broth, and plenty of fresh herbs, garlic, and lemon juice.

we are a sugar free family now for nearly a month and its hard to find suitable sweetners for baking. Good to know about the barley malt growing in the oven. I will make note of that. I made a cake with molasses last week and it was yummy but seems like if you use molasses you never get away from that "gingerbread" taste.

I'm so very HAPPY that you were able to follow the directions to make new Shmoo napkins! One can only hope that who ever found the missing napkins is using them...hey it happened to my daughter...she saw someone in the cafeteria using her napkin...of course they said they had made it but she knew they couldn't have because I hand dyed the fabric!

I make a tofu noodle soup: veggie broth, carrots, celery, peas, parsnips, udon noodles and cubed pieces of tofu--oh, and a bit of garlic, leeks and herbs. I think it is pretty kid friendly, but I can't say for sure.

This looks wonderful! Fresh fruit and soup, can't beat that. What do shmoo's teachers think of his lunches? I remember my son's preschool teachers were always impressed with his healthy lunches. When I brought fresh fruit and crackers for the class snacks, the other teachers wished they had my son in their class. (lol)

I suspect I could trick my (omni) boyfriend into eating chick peas if I made that soup. :-) He generally doesn't like them (though he likes hummus) and when I make them he wrinkles his nose.

I used to blend them in a food processor and use the puree to thicken soups, but alas, I don't currently have a food processor (moving = stinks). So I can't even make him hummus. Maybe I'll try this soup.

I agree about agave, I never was a huge fan of honey even in my pre-vegan days but agave has a wonderful taste that I wouldn't even compare to honey. Brown rice syrup is also great in desserts, particularly sticky ones.

Alex, There are bugs in every commerically made product and most likely in every peice of produce you buy. C'est la Vie! But, I think most vegans avoid products were the bugs were specifically/purposefully "used" such as pink "dyed" foods using beetles...

Yep, I guess canned chickpeas are a bit firmer than the ones we make at home in the slow cooker. Shmoo and his dad love their beans falling-apart tender.

I've never tried stevia, but we have used agave. I prefer Suzanne's Just Like Honey, because it really does taste just like honey. Even my husband was amazed!

Just to clarify, I'm not saying any of the sweeteners I listed are not vegan, I'm just trying to get concentrated sweeteners out of our kitchen for a while to see if they improve our health/behavior, and to give up something for Lent.

I've always had a big sugar craving/addiction, just something awful. And I've been eating an awful lot of Oreos and chocolate since the Lunch Box project began! It doesn't really seem to matter what form the sugar comes in, agave, maple, white, etc. It all seems to lead me to overeat and get uber-cranky. So for a while at least we're trying out the sugar-free life.

So far shmoo seems more patient and focused without all the candy around, and is eating a lot more healthy snacks to make up for the calories he used to use up eating sweets. I think it's a good thing so far.

I'm always looking for easy and tasty soup recipes. I think I have all that stuff at home so I might try that for lunch tomorrow. I've tried replacing sugar with Perfect Sweet brand Natural Xylitol. It works well in most instances, especially for baking and in hot beverages.

wow, it's surprising to me that figs are a good source of calcium - good to know. coincidently, we snacked on some organic Turkish figs yesterday & they were such a sweet treat! I've heard that cutting out refined sugar helps one feel more calm & patient - do you find this to be true?

that's really interesting about the change in mood as a result of cutting out sugar.

over the past couple of weeks, i have gone mostly raw (because of digestive problems) and cut out all sugars apart from those ocurring naturally in fruit. and i have been in a much better mood. before that, i was eating tons of sweets and i was always short-tempered and constantly angry or depressed.

i never even thought that the change might have something to do with cutting out sugar, but it's entirely possible.

Jennifershmoo I recently came across your website and absolutely love it. I'm a sophomore college student and became a vegetarian upon entering college. I've been trying really hard to go vegan, except it is so difficult living on campus with a meal plan. Your lunch box ideas have really helped. I was wondering if you have any vegan cole slaw recipes? Thanks so much, I'm going to excitedly visit the lunch box every day for ideas.

Anonymous nearly vegan college student in search of slaw (and everyone else, of course):My most favorite slaw is a Mexican cole slaw recipe I found in a magazine years ago, and it's actually vegan! Sorry I don't have specific amounts, but it combines shredded cabbage (I've used the pre-cut pre-packaged bags), corn kernels, tiny chopped up tomatoes, and tiny chopped up red bell peppers. The dressing is regular white vinegar, canola or corn oil, and cumin, plus salt and peper to taste. I eat bowls and bowls of it, and it's even better the second day!

Your blog is wonderful. I came across it in December just by surfing the web, and then heard about it again on the VeganFreak podcast. Keep up the good work, and congratulations on your Bloggie Award! You are an inspiration. :) ps I'd like to third the request for the fig bar recipe!

Thank you for your website. We are a vegan family with 2 children, (3 year old and 1 year old.) Both children do daycare several days a week and we are lucky to have found a center that allows us to bring in food. I have been running out of lunch-box ideas so I was thrilled to find your site. My biggest problem is finding the time to cook (Very demanding occupation). And my 3-year old is extremely picky. Thank you for being so creative - now I don't have to be ;-)!Any advice on raising vegan children? I could use some creative ideas on that front as well.

Hey that soup sounds very similar to a traditional Mexican soup called Sopa de Fideo. It uses chicken stock, but I substitute vegetable broth and it's just as yummy.

2 tbsp. vegetable oil (olive or corn oil is fine)

3/4 c. vermicelli noodles, broken into one inch pieces

2 cloves garlic, chopped1/2 c. onion, chopped1/2 of a large tomato, choppedCould also add chunks of new potato and/or zucchini

1 1/2 c. vegetable broth1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy medium sauce pan and saute the vermicelli until golden brown. Stir in the garlic, onion, and tomato (and new potato and zucchini chunks, if using) and saute for about 10 seconds. Add the veggie broth and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste and the cilantro, too.

Turn heat to low and simmer until more of the liquid is absorbed (do not cover). Let the fideo stand off the heat for a few minutes before serving.

Anyway, I know that you shop at Trader Joe's. Were the garbonzos from there? If so, my experience is that their garbonzos & soybeans are not completely cooked. Even in hummus they are not quite right.

I did toss them into a crockpot along with some other beans for a "pantry" chili that I made a couple of weeks ago, and found that they were just right after about 6 hours in the crockpot. The soybeans were still too "crunchy," to use Schmoo's term.